The Choices You Make
by Roxie Zephyr Jocelyn
Summary: [AU. Zangyack!Joe Alive!Sid] They were pirates, criminals of the law. Joe was just doing his duty, upholding the law. It was the right thing to do. Yet, why did he feel like he had made the wrong choice?


A/N: The fascinating characters of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger do not belong to me. This is going to be a slightly long Author's Note, so bear with me. If you don't mind not knowing the full details, feel free to skip ahead.

Set in an AU setting where the Gokaigers are normal space pirates and Joe is a Zangyack soldier, who has been assigned to hunt down the Gokaigers. In a twist of fate, he is accepted as a part of the crew, but in the end, chooses to do his duty by handing them over for execution.

The Choices You Make

_'Traitor! How could you do this?!'_

_'Joe, this is a mistake, right? This isn't real, right?'_

_'Joe-san…'_

_'There is a reason for this, right Joe-san? He, you, must have a good reason for this…'_

_'We trusted you! Marvelous trusted you!'_

_'I'LL KILL YOU!'_

_'You have done your duty, but I ask you this: can you live with the choice you've made, Joe Gibken?'_

The day dawn bright, the sun rays glaring, burning as they rained down on the throng of people packed into a square compound, shoving against each other to get a better look at the platform on one end. Joe felt a wave of disgust take him, watching bitterly as eyes gleamed with anticipation at what was about to come.

Captain Marvelous, notorious captain of the Gokaigers, the last remaining survivor of the infamous Red Pirates was about to meet his end.

Flanked by soldiers, their weapons trained on him even as he stood, cocky as ever, his hands bound in front of him, Marvelous did not cower, did not even flinch, as the executioner grabbed him roughly, placing the noose around his neck.

Not that Joe expected any less of him; of the man he had once called captain.

He stood upon the parapets, along with other soldiers, watchful over the proceedings. His eyes flitted, unseeing, over the crowd, unwilling to focus on the faces he knew; faces that he had once shared laughter with, grinning over their spoils of battle.

Faces he was more than familiar with, torn with disbelief and murderous rage.

The necklace that Marvelous had given him burned his skin, heavy around his neck; ironically and fittingly, not much different from the noose around the pirate's own.

At the sound of the horn, signalling that the end was close, Joe finally found the courage to look at Marvelous.

He had condemned the man; the least he could do was to bear witness to the consequence of his actions.

He had made this choice, and he was going to live with it.

Even if it felt like Marvelous' eyes, empty of everything except bravado – Joe knew that look. It was one that his captain would wear every time he was about to do something reckless, something that he knew he might not survive – were stakes that stabbed through his heart.

The soldier resisted the urge to look away, unable to bear the look in the piercing black orbs, and for a split second, he noticed the pirate captain's confidence falter.

Even the bravest, when confronted with the inevitable embrace of the Grim Reaper, when faced with the undeniable chasm of their death and no way of escape, even the bravest would lose their bravery.

After all, one man, infamous pirate captain or not, was not all that different from his fellow men; from the men who struggled and fought to survive.

But, it seemed that Marvelous would once again defy his expectations.

Once the pirate was sure that Joe would not look away – not from the question, the doubt, that lingered in his eyes – his head tilted subtly, gaze flitting from the soldier to his struggling crew and back to the soldier.

His crew. The captain had, quite literally, a head in the noose, and his main concern was for the survival and lives of his crew.

_'I took them prisoner, and made them pirates. I would've made them walk the plank, but they were useful, and a lot smarter than the idiots who died because they would rather fight than obey a pirate.'_

_The smirk on Marvelous' face was smug and arrogant, but even in pretense, empty of the cruel edge for one talking so casually about killing people. Then, the expression vanished, not a trace of amusement left, as the pirate captain looked Joe in the eye with an intensity and seriousness that pierced Joe to his core. _

_'They didn't have a choice.'_

He was lying, of course.

A bald-faced lie even as he challenged Joe to call him out on it.

Joe left the interrogation room feeling like he had been punched in the gut, the full weight of his actions dawning upon him in full force for the first time.

As for the rest, it was out of Joe's hands, and once word of what Marvelous had said, what Marvelous had intended to do, reached their ears, Luka and Don were quick to refute the captain's claims. Along with a stream of profanities and insults, Luka had generously spilled her story in graphic detail of how she had been rescued by Marvelous after having been caught stealing from a Zangyack treasury. Don, on the other hand, despite Joe's best efforts in painting Don's recruitment as a kidnapping, which should have been easy enough because it had a ring of truth to it, amidst stammering and stuttering, had emphasized that he knew what he was getting into and that he had been a willing participant of piracy.

Their confessions would've condemned them, but Sid-senpai had taken the papers on which their confessions had been written and burnt them, much to Joe's relief.

He had been mentally debating on his plan of action for freeing the rest of the Gokaigers.

'There's a lot to be said for a man who is willing to die for his friends, even if he is a pirate. He is an honourable man.'

Joe had no argument to that. He knew, first hand, the type of man Marvelous was.

Watching them now, however, Joe couldn't help but wonder if it would've been more merciful to execute them along with their captain. Manacled from head to toe, completely wrapped in chains thicker than her arms, Luka had managed to injure more than one guard before they had trussed her up. Even so, she continued to struggle now, paying no heed to how the chains bit into her flesh, bruising and bleeding, her eyes fixed on the execution platform, fixed on the man she had once called captain.

Joe wondered if she noticed how her bruised, dust-covered cheeks were wet from tears, how her eyes screamed of hate and desperation; not defeat, never defeat, and Joe knew that once Marvelous hung from the noose, she too would go down with him, turning on the Zangyack soldiers and raising hell.

In contrast, Don was lifeless; his face as white as marble, his eyes downcast. Blond curls fell messily over his face, but even they could not hide the desperate sobs he had broken down into, his entire frame, equally as manacled as Luka's, shaking from the force of his cries. He looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and Joe had no doubt that he would've fallen to his knees if he hadn't been held up by his guards. With every exclamation, every cry from the crowd, he flinched; every sound a dagger into his body, his soul.

Don was, perhaps, the one most sensitive to the perceptions and expectations of the people around him, and he could only imagine what it was like for the man to hear the enthusiastic voices calling for Marvelous' execution, mocking the pirate captain and defiling his name. His fear would prevent him from springing into action immediately, but Joe knew that everyone had a breaking point, and when Don snapped, there was no stopping his rampage.

Holding Marvelous' gaze, Joe nodded, subtly but still deliberate, reassuring him that he would keep his word; that Marvelous' crew would be allowed to go free.

Joe was surprised to find that the captain's answering smirk lifted his heavy heart quite a bit.

Then, he dropped his gaze, quickly looking away before his darker thoughts seeped into his eyes.

They would be allowed to go free, but Joe had no doubt that it wouldn't be long before they too were standing on the same platform as their captain.

He knew them; he knew that they would rather die with Marvelous than live without him.

'You drove them to this,' his mind whispered cruelly, 'Would you be able to live knowing what you've done? Knowing that you're the one responsible for killing the Gokaigers? For murdering Marvelous?'

It had been Joe's duty. They were pirates, criminals of the law.

And, Joe had had the duty of upholding the law. It was the right thing to do.

Why then did he feel like he was in Luka's, Don's place? Why then, even as he stood free upon the parapet, did he feel like he was the one in chains, helpless and desperate?

'Halt the execution!'

Joe started, his hand flying to his sword, as a loud yell rent through the air. With a hostage each – though Joe was quietly amused to see that their weapons were pointing rather aimlessly at the surrounding crowd rather than at the hostages themselves – there stood Gai, the cabin boy and Ahim, her Royal Highness.

Both of whom, despite being aboard the Gokai Galleon and participants in all acts of piracy, had been pardoned for various reasons.

'Pirates! Run! They're going to kill us!'

The crowd, which had frozen in the face of the unexpected turn up, burst into a flurry of chaos as people screamed and stampeded, pushing at each other in desperate attempts to escape. Amidst the chaos, Gai and Ahim had let go off their hostages, and using the cover of the crowd, swiftly made their way to their imprisoned comrades.

Not that they needed much help.

Luka and Don had taken their guards out very easily, after they had been freed by a tall young man, whom Joe belatedly recognized as the one whose yell had prompted the crowd into action. Judging from his attire, and the way he lingered by Luka's side, he must've been the wealthy merchant that Sid-senpai had said to have pleaded on Luka's behalf, willing to pay her ransom to free her.

Marvelous, on the other hand…

Ringing gunshots punctured the screaming, causing it to become, if it was possible, even louder. And, standing on the execution platform, the body of his guards sprawled around him at his feet, his crimson coat billowing in the wind, Marvelous had somehow managed to get his hands on his weapons. Catching Joe's eyes, the irrepressible pirate captain smirked.

'Let's make a show of it.'

And, Joe too felt his invisible, intangible chains fall away.

The soldiers, who had been caught completely off-guard by the sudden pandemonium, broke into action at the sight of the pirate captain, weapons in hand and completely free.

'Get him!' a couple of them roared even as a mechanical bird – Navi, Joe realized – soared above them, circling the area and squawking, taunting, 'Make a show of it! Make a show of it! Marvelous is free! You'll never catch us now!'

Springing into action himself, Joe grabbed a soldier by the collar. 'The people are our priority. Make sure that everyone gets out okay. Leave the pirates,' he ordered.

'But, sir-'

Joe glared at the soldier, his fiery stare causing the soldier to back down a step, cowering a little.

'The people are our first priority. You have your orders.'

The man saluted and it wasn't long before Joe's orders were shouted through the air. With the soldiers suitably distracted, it didn't take long for the pirates to knock out the ones on their trail, and make their way to the edge of the compound. Like the crimson sun rising on a new dawn, the Gokai Galleon emerged, her blood-red sails billowing proudly in the wind, at the ready to welcome her crew, her captain back on board.

With a wave of Marvelous' sword, the galleon was off, sailing once again upon the wind. Even as the crew disappeared below deck, Marvelous turned and held Joe's gaze; the same cocky grin he had when he first welcomed the Zangyack soldier aboard the galleon.

And, Joe's heart felt lighter than it had since he had come face to face with the pirate captain in the jail cell.

The soldier started as a hand fell on his shoulder, grasping it firmly. 'I should have you arrested and charged with treason,' said Sid-senpai looking at his junior in amusement.

Joe shrugged. 'I promised him that I would let his crew go free; they would've been arrested if he had been hung, and they had attacked us in vengeance.'

Besides…

_'Here.' Joe stared wide-eyed as Marvelous handed to him a pistol and a sword. Both weapons bore the same symbol that adorned the sails of the Gokai Galleon – the Jolly Roger that once belonged to the Red Pirates; now it had become the symbol that characterized Captain Marvelous and his crew of Gokaigers._

_The Zangack soldier stepped back, hesitant to take the weapons even if he had no clear idea why. 'I have my own-' _

_Marvelous shoved the weapons into his hands. 'You can keep your own weapons, but as long as you are in my crew, you'll use these.' The captain grinned. 'You are part of the Gokaigers now, after all.'_

Joe gripped his uniform, his fingers curling around the necklace that hung on his neck.

'I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I hadn't kept my word.'

There was a hint of pride in Sid-senpai's eyes as the older man turned to watch the skies with Joe, eyes on the galleon, the ship now a mere black dot amidst an ocean of blue.

'You are an honourable man, Joe.'

_A cocky grin, reckless, defiant; always their fearless captain, even in the face of death itself. He was their sword, their shield, and even as he risked his life to protect them, they would follow him to hell and back, swords swinging and guns blazing._

_Joe had been proud to call the man his captain._

'If I am, it's only because he taught me how to be one.'

_As the soldiers seized him by the arms, defiance, outrage, betrayal shone bright in Marvelous' eyes, black orbs glinting hard as steel. There was however, Joe noted, his stomach churning, not a hint of condemnation. _

_Joe started. Marvelous knew._

_Then, the emotions faded, and left in their wake, a painful acceptance._

_'You have done your duty, but I ask you this: can you live with the choice you've made, Joe Gibken?'_

Yes, Joe Gibken could now say proudly, yes he could.


End file.
